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joewein.de LLC
fighting spam and scams on the Internet
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"419" Scam – Advance Fee / Fake Lottery Scam
The so-called "419" scam is a type of fraud dominated by criminals from Nigeria and other countries in Africa. Victims of the scam are promised a large amount of money, such as a lottery prize, inheritance, money sitting in some bank account, etc.
Victims never receive this non-existent fortune but are tricked into sending their money to the criminals, who remain anonymous. They hide their real identity and location by using fake names and fake postal addresses as well as communicating via anonymous free email accounts and mobile phones.
Keep in mind that scammers DO NOT use their real names when defrauding people.
The criminals either abuse names of real people or companies or invent names or addresses.
Any real people or companies mentioned below have NO CONNECTION to the scammers!
Read more about such scams here or in our 419 FAQ. Use the Scam-O-Matic to verify suspect emails.
Click here to report a problem with this page.
Some comments by the Scam-O-Matic about the following email:
- This email uses a separate reply address that is different from the sender address. Spammers use this to get replies even when the original spam sending accounts have been shut down. Also, sometimes the sender addresses are legitimate looking but fake and only the reply address is actually an email account controlled by the scammers.
- The following phrases in this message should put you on alert:
- "await your urgent response" (scammers rush victims so they don't have time to think properly)
- This email message is a 419 scam. Please see our 419 FAQ for more details on such scams.
Fraud email example:
From: "Capt. Alsaeed Mohit." (may be fake)
Reply-To: <ms124882@gmail.com>
Date: Sun, 9 Aug 2015 04:33:50 -0000
Subject: Re
Dear ,
I am Capt. Alsaeed Mohit retired one of the former personal assistant to Saif al-Islam Gaddafi of Libya. While in office me and my boss deposited a package which contained Thirty Thousand carat of Diamonds and Two tons of Gold Bars in a secret private vault in one of the west africa country for onward personal investment purposes of which I am the only person aware of the existence and location of the package .
I am looking for a reliable and trustworthy person that would be of assistance to me to help move this precious minerals out for investment. Can you help? Are you capable of handling and selling the precious minerals? Are you trustworthy? If this proposal is acceptable to you I will give you Twenty five percent of the total money realize from this transaction for your assistance, while five percent will be set aside for any miscellaneous expenses incurred during the course of this transaction, will that be ok?
I do await your urgent response
Please, note that this matter is strictly confidential.
Yours sincerely,
Capt. Alsaeed Mohit.
+233-267-879-390
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Anti-fraud resources:
